Our Faculty of Engineering’s Outreach department, Waterloo Engineering Outreach (WEO), has a goal to empower youth to be the change our world will need in the future by creating opportunities for them to increase confidence in their science, engineering and technology abilities. We believe in creating a sense of responsibility, showing youth how to be mindful and considerate in the world they live in. This includes understanding the different challenges individuals face in our society – such as persons with disabilities.
Design For All is a virtual six-week program that aims to teach participants about the principles and applications of universal design. Available for students from Grades 9-12, participants apply universal design principles to design a device for people with different exceptionalities and disabilities using common materials.
Program participants were provided with the opportunity to learn valuable skills like programming and were challenged to apply these skills to design and create prototypes using only kit materials. The final projects were a success and program participants came up with amazing ideas.
Another goal for this program was to determine how our program could impact not only our future generation of Engineers and STEM professionals, but society itself. Participants rose to this challenge by eagerly volunteering their time to design assistive technology prototypes for the community for nonprofit organizations such as Makers Making Change.
“Creating programs virtually that are engaging and impactful has really allowed us to push boundaries [...], so it was wonderful to see how participants took time outside of the program to set up meetings, work on schematics, coding and even present their functional ideas cohesively as a group.”
– Nikita Cruz, Program Delivery Team Lead
Waterloo’s commitment to accessibility extend beyond the work we do within our campus borders. We believe that educating our youth on the importance of inclusion and equity for persons with disabilities is foundational in our contributions to creating an accessible community for everyone.
